MEMBERS OF GOD were born in Italy in April 2009 from an idea of Enzo Donnarumma. The sound that the project aimed to achieve mixes prog- symphonic metal elements with highly researched orchestral lines, quoting also the Jewish folk music scene. Even more sophisticated is the meaning inside the ideology and the texts, strictly linked with Christian metal. Through a passionate theological study, the singer Donnarumma shared with the Pinto brothers the idea of Christ speaking through metal. The band’s current album release is entitled “Ten Talking Words.”

METAL SHOCK FINLAND‘s Ali Blackdiamond recently caught up with the band to find out more:

Hi and welcome to Metal Shock Finland, how are you today?

Hi, we’re really fine thanks. It’s a pleasure and a honor for us to be received on Metal Shock Finland.

For people who do not know MEMBERS OF GOD, can you please tell them about yourselves and your music?

Mmm, sometimes when it’s so easy it’s so hard. Well, it’s better to start with the easy things: we’re musician, we do music for passion, fun and work. Everyone of us started his own musical journey in different ways but in the end we came up loving the same music : Rock and Metal, the progressive side above all. So we do what we love, we play Progressive Metal, with a huge symphonic side, and we added the traditional Jewish Folk music. Our prog is not to be intended as the fast and virtuoso stuff, although we really appreciate it, but as a way of writing and doing music. Yes, we do have strange time signature and fast solos, but the more progressive work is done with melodies, with arrangements, with the lyricism, with the sound. And of course with the lyrics and the themes, and we’re going talk about that.

The hard things : well, we’re musicians, everybody knows that “it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll”

The idealogy of the band is a little more unusual in the world of metal, can you tell me about the process that led to the formation of MEMBERS OF GOD and why you chose Christian metal as your genre?

The project began to take life when Enzo, our singer, felt the need and the duty to share his Faith with everyone, using a very strong way of communication : Metal music. We can say we met on the internet, than we met physically and he proposed us his project. We soon fell in love with the demos and we started to work together really fast. Of course we needed a drummer, because the founding members are the signer, the guitarist, the bassist and the keyboardist (interesting things : guitarist Alex and bassist Jahn are brothers, and keyboardist Rob is their cousin), and so we starting to search for a Drum man.

We didn’t really choose Christian Metal, it was simply the natural outcome of our wish to share our thoughts, our belief. And we want to spend few words about that: It’s not an easy theme to talk about it. But we don’t really feel like prophets or big connoisseur of theological knowledge. Our approach is humble but we feel the duty to give back to Christ’s Words his authentic polemic and provocative essence and soul. His Words has been adapted to a gooder ideology of some religious cults that took His Words to an impractical moralism that will offend Himself.

We dare to say that Christ is Metal, that His message of sweetness/violence is still so much modern, and we believe that who denies His Word didn’t really have the opportunity to know it. We really believe to the promises and the message of the Word of God, we believe that Heaven is here, now. This doesn’t mean, as a lot of people thinks and cults professes, that we reject the good things of life : we love Metal, we love freedom, we love wine, we love tears and joy and every good thing life give us. We’re learning to love how to “give” for the love of it.

This is basically what is in and behind Ten Talking Words, our debut concept album.

How much research goes into the content of your songs and how do you go about writing your material?

There’s a lot of research, but at the same time the contents are spontaneous, because it is just what we are, as person, as Christians, as musicians. Our writing is meticulous in the orchestral arrangements, is violent in the timing, with hard metal riffs. It is sweet in the melodies, sometimes rude. But the most important aspect of our writing is that it comes up after the words. Music for the words, just like Monteverdi said. We internalize the stories, the lyrics, and we just give musical life to them. It may sounds factitious but to us it is just so spontaneous. Anyway we also work on single ideas, but we don’t really say our songs can be attributed to a single member. Our songs are the songs of Members of God.

The band’s influences are quite main stream in the genre of metal, for example: Alice Cooper, Deep Purple and Nightwish. As your music is so different, to what extent do those musicians influence you as a band?

Deep Purple really doesn’t appear in our music, but we mention them for the respect we have for their music and their role in Rock Music.

Alice Cooper is a great musician, who give an huge attention to the live aspect: he is not only a musician, but a phenomenal actor and frontman, his live are just spectacular and emotional.

Nightwish are a symphonic metal band. Although our orchestral lines are so different compared to their we know they did and do a great job in the metal scenes. Purist may be annoyed reading these lines, but to us they are a strong and really good band.

And hey, we have a female singer (Miryamor) who loves, as we love too, the voice of Tarja Turunen, ex Nightwish singer.

Your debut album “Ten Talking Words” was released last year, what kind of reaction has it received so far?

A really good reaction. We’ve honestly expected a good reaction, because of the love, passion Faith and work we put in Ten Talking Words, but it goes even better, we’re proud of it. But what we’re happy for is that a lot of people not only liked our music, but started to get into our message, that is what we’re playing for. Of course as a band we need time, more experience, more live shows, more fans, more persons who wants to change their lives, but we believe this is going to come if we follow His path and will.

Can you tell me more about the songs on the album and do you have a favourite?

Our concept album is made of 17 songs, 7 of which are intros, outro, interludes and preludes.

Ten songs, Ten Talking Words, Ten Commandments. Our songs are not long as most of progressive metal songs. We had our space and time for instrumental craziness and solos, but we tried not to lost the sense, the message into infinite notes and long stuff (still long life to Dream Theater, one of our biggest influence with Shadow Gallery).

We fuse Prog Metal aspects with Classical Elements, quoting the Jewish Folk Music, with the use of ethnic instruments of that area. You can really hear all of that in “Don’t Murder”, that is not our favourite song (we can’t choose a single one, it is all a single thing), but it is the song that sums up all the aspects of what Members of God are.

What was the hardest moment in the band’s history, and how was it resolved?

The research of a drummer. We could spend so many words about that that a book will not be enough. We changed more than ten drummers, for various motivations. How do we resolve that? It’s pretty easy : With Faith.

You describe your live shows as “fusing the energy of metal with intense and significant representation of iconographic and mystical items, in a very original way.” Can you tell the readers about the MEMBERS OF GOD live experience?

What we want to do, what we propose is a Metal concert in every aspects, but also a theatrical shows. People need to listen but also to see, and we give them what we thing they need. Just thinks about Alice Cooper, or Rammstein, they do great live shows. They involve people on every side. Our live are theatrical not only to look cool, but to give strength to our message, to let people see that Faith is not suffer and reject of life, but joy, energy, passion, love.

Do you have any plans to play shows in Finland?

Actually we don’t, but it will great and we’re looking forward to it. Sure Members of God will be in Finland, and we’re expecting you to be in the first lines just under the stage!

What are your aims for the band over the next 10 years and what is next for MEMBERS OF GOD?

This is a good question. People singing your songs while you’re playing for them, people enjoying your music, people sharing Christ’s Words and Message, people feeling happy to believe, to live this wonderful life, this divine gift. That is what we expect.

We’re now working on a second album, and we can’t wait to get in the studio for the recordings. We have a lot of material and stuff for the next album. We’re also programming a live tour, just stay tuned for our news.

Please feel free to leave a final message for your fans and the METAL SHOCK FINLAND readers.

Of course we want to thank our followers, who’re giving great moments to us.

We want to thank Metal Shock Finland for the space, the time and the cordiality showed us.

Thanks to the over 30 000 people (monthly) all around the world who read about us on Metal Shock Finland.

Combining progressive symphonic metal with Jewish folk metal, Members of God have created religious inspired themes and music whilst moulding ideology and theology. Now, not being religious in any way at all the lyrics had no appeal to me but the music is not only moving, but inspiring throughout.

With the opening track taking the listener into a realm of the obscure and divine (yes, I said divine) there is a constant overwhelming desire to listen deeper. As we move into track 2 ‘Someone Knows’, the drive and blasting familiarity of Symphony X creeps in like Michael Romeo has been enlisted by the devil himself. This track is deeply spiritual (musically) with the combinations of orchestras and Eastern scales throwing the mind out into another place. This is beyond anything I was expecting and I actually looking forward to the next tracks. Taking a moment to breathe ‘Talking Words’ is just enough to get you ready for an onslaught of heaviness in the next track ‘Magical Water’. There is so much going on in this track and it’s very easy to feel lost with all the sounds. Although the writing is impressive this track seems to lack any real definition like other tracks. The solo mix of synths and guitars is very Steve Vai’sLove Secrets which is just fantastic to hear; after which you are thrown in the most interesting time signature changes whilst the music just confuses everything around you.

I’m getting used to these little orchestral breaks between tracks and ‘Promises of Happiness’ is no different, adding the much welcomed haunting chorals before taking you into ‘The Sense’ which is, well, interesting!
The piano’s introduction in ‘It’s Saturday’ is exceptional and screams Final Fantasy throughout whilst maintaining the composure of a beautifully thought-out track.‘Like Empty Lyrics’ demands attention all the way through it, from the start with the heaviness all the way through to the chanting chorals of the choirs, into the most exotic leads you are ever to hear or ever expected to hear in this album. The only major problem with this track is there is way too much synth, it’s becoming one of the phrases I feel this album has abused and used to death.
Entering ‘Don’t Desire’ we are instantly thrown in neo-classical/power-metal elements of Yngwie Malmsteen, but it is fun! Where would any Malmsteen type be without the ridiculously fast shredding, it is well executed and doesn’t go on too long, thankfully!

Leaving the album with ‘Ten Words’ and the spoken vocals atop this beautiful music is just enough to send you off to sleep. A truly inspiring piece of music for all!

This is an interesting album with many obscure intricacies and phrases throughout but loses consistency towards the end. The mixing is clear to a degree but some sounds do feel like they disappear within the mix of all the instruments at times. The vocal lines have been well created and well written and are really crammed full of passion.

Italian MEMBERS OF GOD were born in April 2009 from an idea by Enzo Donnarumma. The project aimed to achieve doses of prog- symphonic metal elements with high researched orchestral lines, quoting also the Jewish folk music scene, with the assyrian-palestinian instruments. Even more sophisticated is the meaning inside the ideology and the lyrics, strictly linked with the christian metal.

Through a theological study the singer Donnarumma shared with the Pinto brothers the idea of “Christ speaking through metal”. This way of thinking leads MEMBERS OF GOD during the whole process of their first job “Ten Talking words”, a concept album in wich they eviscerate, with a strong and emotional impact, the true message of the crucified Messiah, that has nothing to do with the religious goodism that was lost during the centuries of real power.

The band aims to build a live-show style that can fuse the energy of Metal with an intense and sigificant rappresentation of iconographic and mystical items, in a very original way.

Recently MEMBERS OF GOD released the 2nd Official Video “The Sense”, can be viewed below. The track comes from the band’s album “Ten Talking Words” (released in 2011).

The band comments that the video “The Sense” is a series of questions about the meaning of life, about how you can throw it away in favor of a materialistic climbing, so that it impoverishes our souls. The desire to have beautiful clothes, jewelry, lots of money, desire dictated by our ambition that makes us forget the true meaning of life, thanks to which we could really delete our anxieties, freeing us for ever from the most common human slavery.

“The Lords Of Spirit” -Musical is dedicated to Shadow Gallery’s story and Mike Baker.

From Shadow Gallery Fan Page: “The Italian band MEMBERS OF GOD have put together a movie based on an original story, set mostly to Shadow Gallery melodies. The story is about how music has a huge impact on a girl’s life, while mixing in the biography of Shadow Gallery (with a few creative luxuries). Set in Italian with English Sub-titles.”

This short film (in six parts) is released today to honor Mike Baker as we all remember his passing four years ago on October 29th.

Part 1: “When the Life Dies”

Part 2 “The Takeoff” – of MEMBERS OF GOD’s movie “Shadow Gallery: The Lords of the Spirit”

Part 3: “The City of Ice” – of MEMBERS OF GOD’s movie “Shadow Gallery: The Lords of the Spirit”

Part 4: “Broken Mike, Broken Heart” – – of MEMBERS OF GOD’s movie “Shadow Gallery: The Lords of the Spirit”

Part 5: “Mike Lives” – of MEMBERS OF GOD’s movie “Shadow Gallery: The Lords of the Spirit”

Part 6 (Finale): “The King of the City of Ice” – – of MEMBERS OF GOD’s movie “Shadow Gallery: The Lords of the Spirit”

The Bass player Carl Cadden-James says: “Wow – I don’t even know what to say. Fantastic job guys. I am honored beyond words. Very touching on a very sad day. Today is the 4th anniversary of Mike’s passing. I had the great fortune of sharing the stage and studio with him for 24 years. He lives on though as a digital ghost in my cd player and I miss him. Thank you Members Of God for the tribute. Quite amazing.”

Shadow Gallery greetings: “Thanks to “Members of God” for this amazing piece!! Long live mr. baker!! We miss you Mike!”